Education Battle Clears Hurdle

The latest proposal to give Ohio’s governor more power overseeing K-12 education clears the Republican-led state Senate despite objections that lawmakers are rushing legislation to significantly change decision-making about academic standards, model curricula and school district ratings, among other things. Oversight of the state’s education department would shift to a director appointed by the governor, instead of the State Board of Education and the superintendent it elects. The bill would also rename the Ohio Department of Education as the Department of Education and Workforce, and transfer many of the state school board’s powers to the department’s new director. Supporters of the bill, including Gov., DeWine, says the changes would promote more accountability and transparency than the current structure, which they say is bogged down with political infighting among school board members and has been too slow to address issues such as the decline in student achievement during the pandemic.